Prepared food products come in a wide variety of styles. Many prepared food products, whether ready-to-eat or those needing further cooking, are prepared with a coating that makes the food product more appealing. Such prepared food products include entrees, appetizers, desserts (such as pastries, donuts), etc., and includes meats, cheese, fruit and vegetables, etc. The types of coatings used on these food products include dry coatings such as flour, sugar and spice and the like. The application of a coating on prepared food products is generally common. In many cases, food products can receive a first coating application as a prerequisite for applying similar or other types of coatings or breadings, such as cracker meal or bread crumbs.
Generally, the food industry prefers to use automated and continuous food coating processes wherever possible. Additionally, processing facilities are often limited by space constraints and further strive to avoid unnecessary space consuming equipment to complete the coating process.